The invention relates to the art of secondary packaging such as multipackages of beverages for consumers, and primarily to the making, distributing and selling of consumer multipackages as a unitary assembly with a portable platform such as a pallet. Pallet assemblies of consumer packages are being used more and more in that assemblied condition throughout the entire path from manufacturer to consumer. In addition to motor vehicles, hand trucks and fork-lift trucks are used to move the pallet loads of consumer packages directly to selling sites in the stores.
Presently many large supermarket and warehouse store operations require the beverage producer or distributor to be responsible for placing the multipackages virtually in the hands of the consumer. Starting at the producer's plant, packages such for example as 12-packs or 24-packs are stacked on pallets. Commonly by using fork-lift trucks the producer moves the pallet loads as completed either into his warehouse or directly into a delivery truck. The producer then drives the truck to scheduled retail stores. At large supermarket or warehouse stores the producer generally will use a hand truck to remove an entire pallet load of beverage packages and carry the pallet load directly into the store on the retailer's selling floor as directed by the retailer. After preparing the pallet load for sale of the individual packages, on occasion the producer's employee may even stay in the store next to the display and place the beverage packages in the consumer's shopping cart.